Mr. Dominic Rihan:

I will take the second question. With regard to on-board monitoring, in some respects a lot can be done on board, and what is happening from next year is that pelagic vessels fishing in UK waters will have to have camera systems on board. This legislation will apply in Europe from 2028. This legislation will come in, whether we like it or not, and it will provide a level of on-board monitoring. The cameras systems themselves are what they are and what people can do with them is what they can do with them. The problem with this is that we are introducing more and more layers of legislation. The EU in particular speaks about simplification of regulation. There are certain elements of control. If we have this on-board monitoring and it is attractive, then why must we have the same level on shore? What will happen is that we will have cameras on board and more monitoring on board, and then we will bring the catch ashore and have the same level of onshore measurement. We will get to a stage where we will be almost giving every fish an individual name. On-board monitoring is coming. The Deputy is correct that it will provide a layer of monitoring but there needs to be a quid pro quo, whereby this means that certain measures done on shore can be relaxed. We do not need to do double, treble or quadruple counting. This is where we are heading.

We must also remember that a fishing boat is a fishing boat. It is a difficult environment to work in. There are limitations to what fishers can do on board a boat in terms of sampling, measuring, weighing and everything else. We do not have factory vessels. The majority of the demersal fleet are 24 m boats with limited space on board. It is very important to take into account the practicalities of what can be done. I accept a layer of on-board monitoring will be brought in and will help in certain instances.